Document title (official name): _______________________________________________
Type of document (circle one): Constitutional Amendment Federal Law / Statute Executive Order Supreme Court Decision Local Ordinance Treaty Proclamation Legislative Bill
Date enacted or issued: _______ Issuing body or authority: _______________________________________________
Where it is archived publicly (URL or institution): _______________________________________________
Read the entire document once without stopping. Then answer:
How is the document organized? (sections, articles, amendments, clauses, numbered provisions?): _______________________________________________
How long is it? _______ sections/pages. What is the general tone? (formal, adversarial, conciliatory, declaratory, regulatory): _______________________________________________
After one read, in one sentence: what is this document trying to DO? _______________________________________________
Find six terms from the document that carry legal weight. For each: write the term, its plain-language meaning, and whether it creates an obligation (must do), a permission (may do), or a prohibition (must not do):
| Term from document | Plain-language meaning | Type: Obligation / Permission / Prohibition | Who does this apply to? |
|---|---|---|---|
Name one group or situation the document does not mention that might be significantly affected by it. What is the effect of that silence?
Find one word the document uses that softens or avoids a more direct description of what is happening. Quote the word and write what a more direct version would say:
Indirect word used: _______________________ More direct word would be: _______________________
What does the indirect language protect the reader from having to acknowledge? _______________________________________________
Every main section or provision must appear. You are translating, not summarizing. Write what this document actually requires, permits, or prohibits in plain language that a 6th grader could understand and act on:
After writing your plain-language translation: does the document do what its title or stated purpose suggests? Is there a gap between what it claims and what it actually requires? Describe one specific gap or alignment you noticed:
Name the author(s), institution, or body that created this document. What was their position, their economic interests, and their relationship to the people who would be governed by it?
Were any of the people who would be most affected by this document included in writing it? How do you know? _______________________________________________
Date: _______ What specific events or conditions were happening in the country or world at the exact time this was written?
How might those conditions have shaped what this document says, what it includes, and what it leaves out?
Summarize in your own words — do not copy the document, translate it. What specific action, right, prohibition, or requirement does this document establish?
Copy one key sentence or phrase from the document exactly, in quotation marks:
What did this document change, enable, restrict, or make official? Who was helped by this document? Who was harmed or excluded? Why are we studying it today?
Stated purpose (what the document says it is for):
Actual documented effect (what research shows it did in practice):
Is there a gap between the stated and actual purpose? What explains that gap? _______________________________________________
Name one specific group that the document helped (with documented evidence): _______________________________________________
Name one specific group that the document harmed, excluded, or ignored (with documented evidence): _______________________________________________
Source for your evidence (archive, primary source, documented research): _______________________________________________
If you are analyzing one of the documents above: what did the original language permit or omit that allowed ongoing discrimination despite the document's stated purpose?
Name one specific civic action a person or community can take in response to what this document does or fails to do. Be specific — not "vote" but which election, for what position, with what goal:
What does this history tell you about why the skill of reading and analyzing government documents matters — not just for civic class, but for documented survival and change? Make a specific claim supported by at least one documented example:
Write one question this document raises that you would need to research using a second primary source to answer. Name the specific source you would look for and where you would find it: